Thirteen
by SweetAngels123
Summary: Thirteen is a haunted number, but not for them, for them it took thirteen tries to get it right, and when the did - it was magical


_**Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye my love  
I can't hide, can't hide, can't hide what has come  
I have to go  
I have to go  
I have to go  
And leave you alone  
But always know  
Always know  
Always know that I love you so  
I love you so  
I love you so, oh  
Goodbye brown eyes  
Goodbye for now  
Goodbye sunshine  
Take care of yourself**_

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_**'s lifetime  
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_**0**_

_There's beauty in being the one to walk away, in knowing that she can, and knowing that she has the right to leave this self destructive fire of a man behind, because whatever chance they had it was lost. It couldn't happen._

_There would be no Sasuke and Sakura in this life time, no happily ever after's, they weren't meant for it, they'd never been made for it, they were meant to learn and grow but not together. Never together. Not anymore, not here, and certainly not now._

_But that's okay she's always been a patient girl._

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**'s lifetime**

_**1**_

_She's in battle, her armor heavy and cumbersome and slick with sweat and blood. They hadn't been excepting the Huns to ambush them in the quiet path, the destruction had been wrought and they had thought they had moved on._

_They'd been wrong, so very wrong, and she's tired, so very tired and everything hurts. But she can't stop; she can't stop even if she wanted to._

_And so she fights and she slashes and she prays silently and she knows that they're out numbered but she can't stop because if she does then she's giving up. She'd be a failure once again, unfit for a husband, unfit to defend her home land from those that would see her destroyed._

_Besides Pretty Boy – _

_She stops and stares because of course it was that simple all she would need was a match, running and dodging and ducking down she pulls the pack of matches from inside her tunic top and struck the match, once twice, and then again until a small flame came to , flickering in the mountain air._

_She smiled and lit the fuse; it would all be over soon, that's what she thinks anyway as she falls, because you know – you can only hold of exhaustion and blood loss for so long. _

_She comes to in a tent with a stern but sad looking physician staring down at her. He doesn't say anything only hands her a robe to pull over her shoulders covering her chest bindings and the thick white that encircled her waste._

_The next thing she knows she's being shuffled out of the tent and forced down onto her knees in the cool snow, someone grabs her hair pulling her head upwards, she winces, she's staring into the angry face of the man that she knows she would die for._

"_I can explain – " _

_But he's in no mood for explanations she can see it in the way his eyes are nearly black with their anger his raven hair dotted with snow, and she thinks she must be a twisted human being to think he's beautiful in this moment._

"_Is there anything else you'd like to tell us _Naruto_?"_

_She winces._

"_Not Naruto, _Mulan_. Mulan is my name. Naruto was my brother."_

_He snorts._

"_What is your hair actually pink?"_

_She looks down – because yeah before she'd dipped it in black dye, her hair had been petal pink, She doubts that Sasuke would like to hear that though, so instead after a moment she nods._

"_You're serious?"_

_She nods and he sighs and in that moment she knows her fate is sealed by the look in his brown-almost black eyes. _Onyx_ she thinks, they're onyx when he's angry or sad, wet dirt when he's happy and a warm inviting brown when he's interested in something._

_She thinks she might love him._

"_Why did you do it, Mulan?"_

_She closes her eyes for a moment and then she opens them, emerald orbs framed with thick black lashes – really how had he ever thought her to be male? – meeting his without faultier._

"_My father could not do it, he's old and walks with a crutch, he would be killed if he was called into battle, I couldn't – I wouldn't – I cut my hair and I dyed it and I took his place, and I don't regret it, not in the least."_

_Sasuke glares._

"_You would dishonor your family like this?"_

"_Is it truly dishonorable? Is what I have done so terrible? I've only spared my father's life along with yours, admit it, we won because of me, where are the Huns, oh wonderful caption Sasuke? Admit it just because I'm female does not mean I'm useless and most certainly does not make me dishonorable."_

"_No it just means that you've sealed your fate."_

_She nods, he really is going to do it than._

"_Any last words?"_

"_Tell my father I love him, tell my mother that I'm sorry I couldn't be the perfect daughter, tell my grandmother that she was right, you do have stand up for what you believe in – tell them that I don't regret it."_

_He nods and the people she had grown to care for bow their heads, they won't watch then, cowards she wants to say but she doesn't she simply stares up at Sasuke as he brings his katana down severing her head from her body._

_Her last thought is that she can see tears in his eyes._

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**'s life time**

**_2_**

_She's a princess, or at least she feels like one. She feels beautiful, more beautiful then she has felt in a long time. Her fairy godmother had swept her hair up into an elegant bun and transformed her ragged dress into a white and black ball gown. _

_And as she danced with her prince she truly felt like this could work like this could be something beautiful and perfect. She could have a life and she could be happy, she could have everything she had ever dreamed about._

_But then she forgot, she forgot, she forgot, and the clock struck midnight and she changed back, changed back, changed back._

_And then her prince looked at her with disgust in his eyes and she felt her heart break, because she couldn't have these things she dreamed about, she couldn't do any of it, she wouldn't have a happily ever after._

_Her prince didn't love her the way she already loved him. She turns and runs then and she didn't hear him calling her back over the sound of her tears and the sound of her heart breaking._

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**'s lifetime**

**_3_**

_She doesn't understand it._

_Perhaps it was the fact that she was in love with one of them but she didn't think that was it at all. Why was hate so easy when love was so hard, shouldn't it be the other way around. This man that she met was kind and loyal and funny._

_And so what if she was copperskined and he as white as the May flowers. What did it matter they were in love, was that not enough, and now as she ran faster then she had ever ran, desperate to get there in time she wished with all her might that hate was harder and love was easier._

_She wished her father and the strange new men could see what she saw. She may be the chief's daughter but she was also something more than that, she was a woman who saw with her eyes open, not closed, and she knew that her people and the strange men's hatred would be there downfall. _

"_Pocahontas!"_

_She screamed in rage as she was grabbed and restrained and her dear John was forced down onto his knees, he turned his head slightly, black hair falling into his eyes and he stared at her, and she could almost hear him telling her to stay still._

_But she will not._

_And she struggles up until the last moment when his eyes lost their sparkle and when she knew that he was gone. After that time had no meaning her only hope was that someday they would find each other again._

_Somehow._


End file.
